Coming Up with Joseki On Your Own

You ever have one of those moments where you play an opening and wonder how far you deviated from the joseki? Well, when you had one of those moments, did you ever happen to find out that you managed to play the proper moves without any joseki knowledge? Because that happened to me a couple of weeks ago, and it was one of greatest moments ever because I felt that it was a sign of growth and understanding of why certain moves are played.

Pretty neat huh? But here’s one thing I will say to my fellow go players who are trying to reach dan level: While I have been a big advocate of avoiding joseki study throughout my own growing process, I believe that I may have reached the point where joseki study can no longer be avoided. I must admit that I never thought I’d reach this point, but it seems that the time will be upon me very soon…